Page 58 of The Fix Up

Despite what Holly had said on the phone, Ben refrained from talking dirty to her in the car. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to. It was more that he wanted to prove to her this could be more than a surface fling. That he wasn’t just another jerk like his dad whose only use for relationships was as rungs on his career ladder.

Okay, so that crack he’d made about coming in her mouth had been taking it too far, though she hadn’t seemed to mind. Hell, if he read things right, it even turned her on.

But was he wrong for wanting more than that? For thinking they could be more than just a business-based dalliance?

Ben shushed his inner critic as he hit his turn signal and took the exit toward the furniture store. The vehicle was new, an embarrassingly flashy sports car his father had urged him to buy a few days ago. Ben had been perfectly happy with his old Volvo, but his dad insisted the CEO of a multi-billion dollar company shouldn’t be driving a car that still had his college bumper stickers on the back.

“Get a real car, dammit,” Lyle told him. “Something that’ll make people sit up and take notice.”

Ben had to admit, the car was pretty nice. Or maybe it was just the view of Holly in the passenger seat with her long legs bare against the leather seat and her dark hair rustling in the breeze from the air conditioner.

“Are those your golf clubs in back?” she asked.

“Yes. Why?”

“I thought you hated golf.”

“I do.”

She gave him an odd look. “So you’re driving them out into the country to leave them for dead?”

“Nah, I’m trying to build a relationship with them. I figure if I carry them around for a while, maybe play some nice music and show them a bit of scenery, we’ll warm up to each other.”

“Sounds like a good dating strategy. If you’re lucky, maybe they’ll put out.”

Ben laughed. “I’ve been playing a little bit after work lately. Just a few holes here and there, trying to get the hang of it. I’m actually pretty good.”

“I’m not surprised. It’s a good game to know for business. I had to learn a few years ago.”

She sounded less than thrilled about that, and Ben wondered if there was a story behind it. “I’m playing Tuesday night if you want to join me,” he offered.

“Thanks, but I’ve got a client meeting.”

“I’ll be on the Vandermeer Course,” he said, hoping to tempt her. “Normally it takes months to get a tee time there, but I pulled a few strings. If you want to blow off your client meeting?—”

“I don’t,” she said, and her sharp tone seemed to surprise them both. “I mean it’s an important meeting. I make it a policy never to set aside my business interests for someone else’s.”

“Sorry,” he said, annoyed with himself for ruffling her feathers. “I wasn’t inviting you for business, though. Just for fun.”

“Everything’s about business,” she said. “Isn’t that why you’re learning to play golf?”

“True.” Ben glanced over to see her studying him. “What?” he asked as a trickle of self-consciousness dribbled through his veins.

“I never realized how much you look like your dad.”

“You’re the second person who’s said that to me this week.”

“Who was the first?”

“Parker,” he admitted. “It was after I showered at the gym, and he pointed out that he’d never seen me comb my hair with anything besides my fingers. Then he grabbed the monogrammed brush my dad gave me and chucked it in the toilet.”

Holly laughed. “I can’t decide if that’s really sweet or really weird.”

“Maybe a little of both. Parker’s not a big fan of my father, in case you hadn’t guessed.”

“Of your father, or of you becoming your father?”

“All of the above. I think he’s annoyed I blew off another boxing workout to play golf a few days ago.”

---